Ebola: Liberia confirms cases, Senegal shuts border

Ebola: Liberia confirms cases, Senegal shuts border

The first two cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Liberia, after spreading from neighbouring Guinea, where the deadly virus has killed 78 people.

The two Liberian cases are sisters, one of whom had recently returned from Guinea, officials say.

As concern grows over the outbreak, Senegal has closed its normally busy border with Guinea.

Ebola is spread by close contact and kills between 25% and 90% of its victims.

Discovered in 1976 after an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, then Zaire, Ebola causes a severe haemorrhagic fever where victims suffer vomiting, diarrhoea and both internal and external bleeding.

Scientists have yet to develop an effective drug or vaccine to fight it.

Outbreaks of Ebola occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests, the World Health Organization says.